Some embodiments of the inventive concept relate to semiconductor memory devices and methods of fabricating the same, and in particular, to semiconductor memory devices with an air gap and a method of fabricating the same.
Due to their small-size, multifunctionality, and/or low-cost characteristics, semiconductor memory devices are considered important elements in the electronic industry. Some semiconductor memory devices may include a memory device for storing data, a logic device for processing data, and a hybrid device capable of performing various memory storage and data processing functions simultaneously.
As the electronics industry has advanced, the required level for the performance characteristics of semiconductor memory devices has increased. For example, the requirement for semiconductor memory devices of high speed may be increasing, and/or the requirement for high reliability of semiconductor memory devices may be increasing. However, patterns in semiconductor memory devices may be increasingly made smaller (finer) due to the trend of increasing the integration density of semiconductor memory devices. Decreasing the pattern size (line width) of semiconductor memory devices has made it more and more difficult to realize semiconductor memory devices having high operating speeds and/or excellent reliability.